Arrieta revisits old BMO haunt

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STEVEN SANDOR, QMI Agency

Apr 13, 2010

, Last Updated: 10:46 PM ET

TORONTO - There is one member of the Philadelphia Union who has fond memories of BMO Field.

Cristian Arrieta, who was hands-down the best defender in the United Soccer Leagues over the past couple of seasons, was a key part of the Puerto Rico Islanders team that beat Toronto FC in last year’s qualifying round of the CONCACAF Champions League, 1-0 at BMO Field.

Arrieta was signed by the Union last week and was thrown right into the defensive line. He immediately set up one of the three goals scored by Sebastien Le Toux in the Union’s 3-2 home-opening win over D.C. United.

Arrieta and the Union want to continue TFC’s miserable tradition of never having beaten an expansion team — or even scored on an expansion team — at home. The Union christens the new BMO grass with the Reds on Thursday night.

“If the final result is the same with Philadelphia (as it was with the Islanders), then I will be happy,” said Arrieta through an interpreter.

Mind you, Puerto Rico came into Toronto defending like demons and hoping to catch TFC on the counter. In fact, the Islanders scored on a set play off a long ball. The Union won’t play that conservatively Thursday night.

But the Union’s signings will force TFC fans to ask some uncomfortable questions of their own team. The Union got Arrieta, who was the USL’s defender of the year in 2008 and ’09, and the league’s MVP last season. It also signed Danny Califf, who was named to the MLS best XI in 2005 before he went off to Europe.

Meanwhile, the Reds continue to bring in project players to man their line, using Latvian side Skonto Riga’s reserve team as its farm system.

“I had the opportunity to go to other teams,” said Arrieta, who not only is a tower in the centre of defence, but is a set-piece specialist and a dead-eye penalty-taker. “But from the very first day I arrived in Philadelphia, I knew I wanted to stay here.”

He scored 17 times in two seasons for the Islanders. And he was one of the keys to the team’s stunning run to the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals in 2009, where the Cinderella Islanders succumbed only to Mexican giant Cruz Azul in the semifinals, thanks to the lottery known as penalty kicks.

Arrieta was a hot property — a guy known to every general manager in MLS. He had played Serie B in Italy. And, in games against MLS opposition — such as the series with Toronto FC — he was outstanding.

With the USL collapsing after last season, and teams now merged into the new United States Soccer Federation’s Division 2, the Islanders lost many players, including current TFC defender Dan Gargan. Bill Gaudette, the team’s outstanding goalkeeper, had a trial with the New York Red Bulls but lost the battle to be the team’s backup to former TFC netminder Greg Sutton.

Arrieta hopes his reunion with Gargan, his old defensive partner, will work out in his favour.

“I am very happy to see him,” said Arrieta. “We will be good friends before and after the game. But, during the game, there is no friendship. It’s a war. And I hope we win it.”

And, if the Union does win it, if it becomes the second expansion team in a row to win TFC’s home opener, there will be more uncomfortable questions for the Reds’ front office.

It would actually have been easier for TFC to open against a powerhouse like the Columbus Crew or the Los Angeles Galaxy — a loss would not have been looked at so critically.

But fail against an expansion side — again — and the boo-birds will be making an early spring appearance.